The present invention relates generally to devices for compressing food articles, such as for example dough, hamburger meat and the like, into a particular shape; particularly, the present invention relates to a press for simultaneously molding a food article into a plurality of discrete items that have been formed into a particular shape.
Many compressible food articles, such as dough, hamburger and the like, must be formed into a particular shape before being cooked, such as forming a hamburger patty, a decorative cookie, a biscuit, a ravioli, a turnover and the like. Unless the compressible food article is formed in a particular shape, it may take longer to cook and will not have the desired aesthetic effect. Unfortunately, forming the compressible food article in a particular shape is a tedious task. In addition, this task is messy due to the user being required to touch the compressible food item.
When a batch of items are to be formed into a particular shape and cooked simultaneously, uniformity of thickness is also important. If the thickness is not uniform, the items will not cook uniformly. In other words, some items in the batch will be burned while others will not be sufficiently cooked if the items in the batch do not have a uniform thickness. Typically, a compressible food article is rolled into a uniform thickness using a rolling pin. Unfortunately, rolling the compressible food article into a uniform thickness is a tedious and messy task to be avoided, if possible.
There have been a myriad of attempts to minimize the mess and tedium of forming a compressible food article into a discrete item with a particular shape. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,889 to Joffe teaches a mold for forming a compressible food article into a discrete item with a particular shape. Joffe, however, suffers the deficiency of being messy to use and only allows a single item to be formed at a time. Another attempt was made in U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,404 to Morz et al. In Morz, a cookie press is described which has a reservoir for holding a quantity of dough. A plunger is positioned above the dough and is capable of pushing dough out of the bottom of the press through an ornamentally shaped hole. Unfortunately, Morz et al. requires the user to cut the dough from the bottom of the press in order to create discrete items. As a result, it is very difficult for a user of the Morz et al. press to create discrete items which have a uniform thickness. Moreover, the press only allows a single item to be formed at a time.
Therefore there is a need for a device that simultaneously forms a plurality of discretely formed items of uniform thickness from a food article, without requiring the user to contact the compressible food article.
According to its major aspects and briefly described, the present invention is a press that subdivides and shapes an amorphous food article into a plurality of discrete items having a particular shape, such as a hamburger patty, a decorative cookie, a biscuit, a ravioli, a turnover and the like. The press simultaneously forms a plurality of discrete items into a particular shape wherein each item has a uniform thickness. The user simply pulls a lever on press without being required to ever touch the compressible food article. Moreover, the items may be formed in any desired shape.
The press comprises a base and an opposing lid that are capable of moving toward each other in order to create a compressive force therebetween. A mold sheet and compression sheet are attached to the base and the lid, respectively, so that the mold sheet and the compression sheet are adjacent to each other. The mold sheet has a plurality of flanges protruding therefrom. The flanges act as a cutting edge for separating a compressible food article into a plurality of discrete items. Preferably, the flanges are formed in a shape to create an ornamental periphery in the discrete items. Compression sheet may optionally have extrusions protruding therefrom, in order to indent the discrete items. With the compression sheet having extrusions, the item is able to receive and hold a filling. In order to use press, a compressible food article is placed between mold sheet and compression sheet. Next, lid and base are moved toward each other until flanges contact compression sheet to subdivide the compressible food article into a plurality of discrete items.
A major feature of the present invention is the ability of the press to simultaneously form a plurality of discretely shaped items from an amorphous food article. As a result, discretely shaped items can be produced much more quickly and efficiently.
Another important feature of the present invention is the uniform thickness of articles formed by the press. The uniform thickness of items formed by press is created by the uniform thickness of flanges in mold sheet. As a result, the plurality of discretely shaped items created by the press can be cooked simultaneously.
These and other features and their advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a careful reading of the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments, accompanied by the following drawings.